The depressing results of its own game's day one piracy rates show that only 6.4% of people playing the game bought it legitimately.

Jesus Christ and people wonder why crippling DRM is included in PC games

I never heard of the game or its studio. I've heard of Pirate Bay. If I see a game at the top of the download list, but have never heard of it or its studio, downloading the game to try it out is pretty common, especially when it's the developers that put it on there. But if gameplay is crippled by an intentional bug (and I'm given no clue that the bug exists on purpose), I'll either assume the same bug exists on the retail copy and not purchase it, or assume the developers were being dicks and not purchase it. Plus there's no way to know if that 6.4% actually pirated it first before purchasing.

Pirate Bay can be a great way to advertise your stuff, provided you embrace them and not try to screw them.

Let's wait for it to hit Steam (another article said it was on greenlight) before judging the sales.

1) It's the first day, and they "Zero-Day" released the alternate version as a pirate release. It's very possible more people were exposed to it on release day through scene pre- sites than they did through normal channels.2) While this is actually a list of the people who PLAYED the alternate vs. purchased copies of the game, it doesn't represent the number of people who downloaded, but did not play the game (aka The Collectors), likewise, it also doesn't count people who purchased the game, but have not played it yet (like 90% of the games in my Steam library, LOL)3) This chart will get far worse, as the news gets out - but how much of that will be "I just have to play the 'fake-cracked' version to see this!" versus actual pirates?

On the other hand, they are getting some great publicity. Publicity is everything.... if I had the sort of publicity they are getting for my iOS/Android Virtual Cat Toy app, I'd probably see thousands of downloads the next day - They'll probably see a 10x bump in sales for the next week or so as this story continues to get press. Let's hope it gets decent ratings.

It is an interesting take. Madonna released one of her albums on the torrents with some sort of annoying recurring noise in every song. Some games have stealth piracy detection routines (usually checking the hash of the launcher) that introduce impossible enemies after a number of levels and such.

It might serve them better if after the piracy event pops up, they labeled the bottom of the game with "Special Pirate Edition Downloaded from PirateBay" to let downloaders know they've been had, but this will certainly give them a nice boost they wouldn't have had otherwise.

Most popular game in the universe for most of the 90s. EVERYBODY had the shareware version. The full version and DOOM2 were probably the most pirated software in the world from '93 to '96. No copy protection at ALL - got four or five floppy discs? ARJ that sucker up and have fun!

Yet id still made an unholy assload of money off it.

Piracy hurts, sure, but it doesn't kill.

/Man, I'm having flashbacks to the ASCII loading screens for some reason...

I Like Bread:ParanoidAgnostic: Piracy only became an issue for movie studios when DVDs showed up. In the days of VHS there wasn't really a huge home video market. Almost all of the profit was made in the theatrical release. Sure you could get a copy from someone who carried a camcorder into the cinema but that really couldn't compete

It was big enough in 1979 for a "60 Minutes" piece.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uln6HUXAmg

Not to mention that little supreme court case (Sony v. Universal Studios) that stated making a copy or recording a movie off tv for personal use isn't copyright infringement. Movie studios were as worried about the betamax and VHS recorders as the music industry was about the cassette tape. Despite their fears, piracy didn't stop the continued growth of either industry.

I Like Bread:It's amazing how many people assume I'm against them, when in reality I'm just trying to help them not make the rest of us look stupid. I file them under "Not Helping".

"It's not a physical good, and I wasn't going to pay for it anyway, so it's okay if I don't pay for it at all."

By this logic, pirates think it's totally okay to sneak into a movie theater/live theatre performance without paying (especially because they apparently can't trust reviews of word of mouth to judge the quality of what they're going to see).

Pirate logic:

"I need to know if something's good before I pay for it, so I'm entitled to a free trial run."

By this logic, pirates think they should get a free ride on a hooker to see if they would enjoy it or not... or a free meal at a restaurant before they decide whether or not to eat there.

Pirate logic:

"I wasn't going to buy it anyway, so there's no real lost sales."

I, too, would not buy a product if I ALREADY OBTAINED IT FOR FREE.

It's also noteworthy that they're very cool with the term "pirate." You know why? Because the more apt moniker would be "thief." "Pirate" at least sounds cool and daring.

I don't give a shiat what your excuses are. The developer's main point, and one I agree with entirely, is that this is what you get. While you're justifying your activity, companies like EA and Activision are doing justifications of their own. They think as little of DRM and day-one DLC as you do about compulsively torrenting. Game companies are now run by business majors intent on maximizing profit margins to offset losses. The creative giants were run out by the pirates years ago.

You can derail the discussion, parroting "piracy isn't theft" all you like. What you can't avoid is the fact that you did this. See all this bullshiat that used to be the game industry? YOU did it. So thanks a bunch, farkstains. Personally, I'd have more respect if you stood up and admitted this. "I pirate software just because I can get away with it. I'm an overly entitled basement dweller and the game industry is shiatty because of me. Please punch me in my fat smug mouth."

Well, it isn't stealing. It's copyright infringement. To call it stealing is an insult to hardworking thieves who actually deprive people of property. Can you imagine how it must feel to a professional, someone who spends time honing their craft, to be put on the same level as an idiot who can click a button on a web page? There are people who spend years perfecting their mugging technique, or who have the gumption to walk into a bank armed with nothing but a threatening note and more guts than common sense. And what about the hard-working blokes who spend hours marching up and down the lanes at your local mall's parking lot, so that they can break a window and steal a forgotten cellphone or wallet?

Those people are stealing. They're doing something with their lives. Don't insult them by elevating copyright infringers.

The depressing results of its own game's day one piracy rates show that only 6.4% of people playing the game bought it legitimately.

Jesus Christ and people wonder why crippling DRM is included in PC games

No no, see, it's not the players fault. They're only pirating the game because of how terrible it is! Or they can't afford $50 because their mom is having surgery! Or they just wanted to try it out for 90 hours to be sure they really liked it! Or they're just making a political statement because the developer once thought about using a publisher who has a benefits person in their HR department who was mean to a barista one time!

Piracy is NEVER the players fault. I mean, what do you expect them to do, make informed choices about their entertainment media purchases with their limited finances, then adjust their future purchases accordingly based on their enjoyment of the game? That might mean that a player would have to *GASP* not play some games! Or even worse, wait to play certain games until they can afford to purchase them!

Most popular game in the universe for most of the 90s. EVERYBODY had the shareware version. The full version and DOOM2 were probably the most pirated software in the world from '93 to '96. No copy protection at ALL - got four or five floppy discs? ARJ that sucker up and have fun!

Yet id still made an unholy assload of money off it.

Piracy hurts, sure, but it doesn't kill.

/Man, I'm having flashbacks to the ASCII loading screens for some reason...

Also Minecraft. Estimates are that it's around a 70% piracy rate, but Notch doesn't care at all. Those 30% are more important to him. And he's still making money hand over fist.

"Piracy will win in the long run. It has to. The alternative is too scary."-Notch